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    having rights winch should be respected and observed by every other ; , that political right cati never be inconsistent with moral right ;—and that the welfare of our own country is not to be pursued by the sacrifice

    of the claims of others less powerful . His patriotism never made him forget that he was a man . Wherever the rights of conscience were concerned , there we see him , as a senator , taking an elevated rank , nay , standing among the most elevated 3 maintaining those

    sacred rights on principles which no circumstances can change . When the interests of the poor required the devotement of his time , ( leisure it could not be termed , ) and the exercise of his sound and discriminating

    judgment , we see him zealously devoting both , in that cause which every view of benevolence and sound policy shews to be worthy of both , by shewing , that a permanent reformation in . the condition and character of the poor , cannot be effected without a

    welldirected attention to their education , and a proper regulation of the laws respecting the indigent . " In all these objects , Romilly was found an indefatigable and enlightened labourer ; but there is one in which lie took the lead , and in which he

    went on , with dignified perseverance , through the bitter opposition of prejudice , and the still more disheartening indifference of those whose views accorded with his own , —the reformation of our criminal code , connected , as it

    necessarily must i > e , with the amelioration , or rather the reformation , of the prevalent system of prison discipline . He lived to see the bitterness of prejudice lessened ; and indifference , where one would have supposed that indifference could not exist , but through

    culpable ignorance , awakened to the claims of social duty . And had he lived a few years longer , he might have seen the triumph , if not the universal adoption , of principles most intimately connected with the prevention of crime , the reformation of

    the offender , and the good order of society . These principles he long had to advocate , almost unaided , and generally unheeded ; but his calm and temperate statements of them , and his persevering , prudent efforts , contributed iu an eminent degree , to diffuse

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    and establish them . The time will doubtless come , when his name shall stand high indeed among the benefactors of mankind ; and the distressful gloom which has suddenly involved his earthly course , cannot obscure its

    past glories . True it is , that thick darkness has come over it , before his sun had reached the western horizon ; but its mild effulgence , diffusing good , and contributing to enlighten and to benefit mankind , cannot be forgotten . " It is cheering to believe , that the melanchol y act which has thus

    removed from bright and unclouded usefulness , one whose loss can , as yet , be fully supplied by no one , was occasioned by the temporary alienation of those clear and vigorous powers of understanding , by which he was so

    eminently distinguished . It is consolatory to believe , that he was illustrious , not only for his public virtues , but for those which adorn the private walks of life , and for the discharge of Christian duties . He is in the hands

    of a merciful God ; of Him who knoweth our frame , and remembereth that we are but dust . And while this mournful event reads us important lessons , it ill becomes us to pronounce a sentence which God hath not

    pronounced - , or rashly and cruelly to make it a proof that his virtue wanted the support of religious , of Christian principle . Nor let his example be supposed to sanction what , in all common cases at least , must * come of evil . ' Had his mind been able to

    reason , and to decide by the plain dictates of benevolence , he could not have failed to come to the conclusion , that duty forbade the deed ; for it cut off the wise and affectionate father , when his children most needed his aid

    and direction- , it interrupted the projects of enlightened humanity , whe * e his co-operation and judgment were of essential importance to success ; it interfered with the interests of numbers , who had committed them to his care ; and it caused distress among

    multitudes , and anguish among his nearest relatives , which long must be deeply felt , which would prevent his honoured name from being pronounced with all the respect and influence due to it , and make it even paWul to spoak of the father , the friend and the beaefactor : and religion would have told

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    On the Death of Sir Samuel Romilly . 701

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1818, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2482/page/37/